


Marked before war

by HimeAsakura



Category: Naruto
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wrote this instead of studying, Slow Burn, like reaaaaly slow burn, suika - Freeform, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:28:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29409090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HimeAsakura/pseuds/HimeAsakura
Summary: AU during/after, some things fixed/changed ;)After loosing everything, whats the first thing somebody needs?When you don't know who you are anymore, can't trust your beliefs and you think you have nothing left, who will stand at your side?
Relationships: Hoozuki Suigetsu/Karin
Comments: 10
Kudos: 3





	1. Prisoners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SoProud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoProud/gifts).



> English is my third language, so hopefully i don't make to many mistakes. :) 
> 
> Also, there are not enough fanfics about SuiKa. :( So i had to write my own.  
> It gets better after the first chapers...hopefully..

He knew that something was wrong, as soon as he walked out of the Prison holding him and Juugo. It was a bit too easy. There were no guards, almost as if they were forgotten. But that would be impossible, right? They just fought against the five Kage at their Summnonig, so somebody should be there to guard them. At least somebody.  
But running down the hallway, with Juugo behind him, he couldn't shake the feeling of being left alone. "Why do we have to get your sword? We should better go and search for Sasuke and Karin, as long as we are not found."  
Suigetsu snorted angrily. "Because we are probably better off without them and I need a sword to fight. Also, who said, they are still alive? I mean, Sasuke tried to fight the five Kage almost alone, and Karin is just fucking useless. She would be the first one to die," Suigetsu said without looking back. There is just no chance for them to be alive and even if there was, he really should care for his own life first right now.  
They found the sword chamber almost without searching and only two Samurai to guard it. With only one punch and seemingly no effort Juugo took both out. "Do you think, this could be a trap?" He asked, after hiding the bodies and looking at the with haired one.  
"What for? To torment us, with the idea of freedom and then locking us away again?" Suigetsu shrugged and opened the door for them.  
The bigger one scratched his head and entered the chamber with an unsure look on his face. "Well, it could be, couldn‘t it?"  
The room was dim and full of scrolls, swords, shields, and armor. Much to his surprise, Suigetsu almost immediately found the Executioner's Blade, right in the back of the room.  
It was so worryingly easy to get his sword back, something just had to be fishy. "Do you really think, this is not a trap?" He wielded the blade, but nothing felt out of the ordinary, except their situation.  
Meanwhile, Juugo rummaged through the scrolls, looking for anything, that could explain the situation.  
"Well, we have to consider everything. And besides, it just feels so wrong in here, don't you think?"  
Slightly annoyed the white-haired put a hand on Juugos shoulder. "How about you stop reasking and just get it off your chest. Just...Just say the fucking thing you want to say. Hm?" He said grinning just a bit too friendly, showing off his shark-like teeth.  
"I just did, didn't I?"  
With a grunt Suigetsu facepalmed himself and rolled his eyes. Just how dense could he be?  
"Anyways, we have to get going. Even if no one is here yet, they could come back, from whatever they did."  
Putting away some scrolls he just read, Juugo nodded. "We should get Sasuke. Most likely, he is with Karin."  
" 'We should get Sasuke. Most likely, he is with Karin.' " Suigetsu mocked him.  
" How about we get the fuck out of here and don't ever- and I mean ever- see them again? Like, whose fucking fault is it, that we have to escape a fucking prison, because 'Oh no Danzo is a bad boy and I have to punish him in the name of my super-duper brother'." He turned to Juugo, challenging him with his eyes, before gesturing him to follow and searching for an exit.  
He heard Juugo behind him mumbling something about, how Sasuke helped them all escape Orochimaru, but he could not care less.  
He is free now, and he is ready to fight whoever to keep his Freedom.

________________________________________________________________________

Ibiki hadn't ever seen a woman so arrogant, yet so pitiful.  
Her whole body was covered in bite marks, telling about her childhood abuse, seemingly to get more pity, and yet she seemed so calculating and manipulating. He unclenched his jaw and rolled his shoulders. Kakashi brought this red-haired woman, called Karin or something, for interrogation about four hours ago, and she willingly told them so much about Orochimaru, his hideouts, and Sasuke, that he could not shake the feeling, that this was some kind of trick or trap.  
How could they trust her? Sure, Sasuke seemed to have tried to kill her, but it just could be a ploy to distract them.  
Ibiki looked to two of his subordinates, who were weeping, hearing about Karins' tragic life. Both of them were rather young and inexperienced guards.  
Exhaling he stood up. " I think we have enough information right now. We will verify everything you told us and if something is just slightly off..." He didn't have to finish his sentence for Karin to know exactly what he meant. She would be dead.  
"And what if everything I told you turns out to be true?"  
The weeping subordinates nodded in unison.  
"Then the Hokage might be willing to let you live. For now."  
With a small hand-gesture, he dismissed every one of them, letting the red-hair be locked away.  
" At least get me some food! " Karin shouted, but the interrogation squad just left the room, without listening to her. Only the two guards, still sobbing, were left behind.  
"Maybe...Maybe we can get you some food. After everything, you went through.." The guard blew his nose. The second one just nodded in agreement and wiped his tears away.  
Karing rolled her eyes. Anyone could be a ninja these days, huh?  
She leaned against the cell wall and let herself slide down.  
Right now her only goal was to survive. To survive another prison. She hugged her knees and let out a low sigh. How long will she be trapped in this nightmare?  
To live under Orochimaru's mercy, then fighting for someone, who didn't care about her and who just tried to kill her; to live on the verge of death, just being useful enough for somebody, so that she had a reason to be kept alive.  
Well, she could not go back to Sasuke, and she wouldn't want to. But she had nowhere to go, no one influential enough to protect her.  
It only got worse and worse.


	2. Passing time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait.

After fleeing the Land of Iron, Suigetsu and Juugo proceed to head towards one of Orochimaru's hideouts. That's the only place they knew, that was empty and unused and probably safe enough to hide in before they had a real plan on what to do or where to go. 

As they approached the hidden door in the forest, Juugo suddenly stopped. "Do you think, they might be both in here? I mean, that's the nearest hideout and I don't think Sasuke died. And if Sasuke survived, Karin did too, probably."   
Suigetsu bared his teeth. "Listen, Juugo, even if we reunite with Sasuke and Karin, it's not going to be a grand reunion. Karin would still clutch herself to him, even if getting in her way is my second favourite thing after collecting the swords. You would still listen to everything he says, without thinking, and I would..", he clenched his fist and mumbled, " I would be too afraid to go. Madara is still on Sasuke's side and nobody is going to escape his madness." Juugo looked like he wanted to add something, but choose to remain silent.   
In tacit consent with Juugo, Suigetsu opened the door with a hidden lever. The ingoing wind caused a stir of dust. The long hallway before them laid dark and empty and it seemed like no one had been there in ages.  
Suigetsu snorted. "You don't have a lighter or anything like that?"   
The Addressed shook his head.  
"Great, then we will continue in darkness."  
Closing the door behind him, Juugo followed Suigetsu in the dark. 

_____________________________________________________________________________  
(Trigger Warning.)

Opening her eyes, she realised, she must have fallen asleep. How long did she sleep? Three or four hours at least, she thought to herself.   
Before she could see it, she felt something warm and soft covering her body.   
"I see you are finally awake." She heard a voice, she somehow recognised, but couldn't pin a face too. Yawning and stretching Karin finally looked at the guard sitting at the little table outside her prison cell. "How do you feel? A medical ninja was there to treat your wound, but u seemed to have passed out, due to stress. "  
Still feeling disoriented, she took her time to reply. The warm, cosy feeling she had moments ago, was a work of her imagination caused though a little blue blanket, they had placed upon her. How long had she slept without a blanket? The floor was not in particular comfortable, but it was better than sleeping on a tree or on the moist forest floor. Or Rocks. She hated them so much.   
The guard noticed her bitter expression but mistook it for pain and confusion.  
"I can call her right back in if you want. Or do you want to eat first? You've lost a lot of blood and it could help if you feel fatigued."  
He pointed at a tray on the floor right before her with a sandwich, a cup of water and an orange.   
"I put an extra orange there, so you get some vitamins." He smiled. It was a genuine smile like he was really proud of his orange-idea.   
"Thanks, I guess..." she said, not sure, how to feel about a genuine smile. Was this some sort of manipulation? But she already gave them all information, they could possibly need.   
On the other hand, this was a free meal and she hadn't eaten in quite a while.   
Slowly reaching for the cup, she saw a shaking pale hand reaching for it at the same time and it took her some moments to realise, that this was her hand.   
"How long did I sleep?"  
The guard thought for a moment. "I guess a day, maybe a day and a half. I mean you really missed the scary parts, like the explosions and the earthquakes. " He deliberated with himself for a second before finally crunching beside her outside her cell.  
"I mean, you are probably free to go soon, 'cause it looks like you told the truth and no one is really in the mood to fight anymore. Oh, and you missed the double meteor. Like the things that make you really happy not to be in this war but to be on guard duty. Like... I saw this bullshit from here. It's crazy out there. You can see the burning flames for miles and you can only imagine their screams."   
This is were Karin's brain just shut down. What the hell was he talking about? What war? She was almost killed by Sasuke, as he killed Danzo, and then the Konoha Ninjas brought her here. What was going on? She felt nauseous.   
And it didn't help, that she hadn't eaten for quite some time.   
"Are you okay?" The guard leaned forward, worry in his voice.   
A flash of light hit her inner eye. The sound of burning wood and screaming filled her mind, bright fire and the pain. The pain was the worst thing. She remembered them biting her. Sucking her chakra out of her until she was unconscious.   
She remembered the smoke filling her lungs, as she cried for her mother. "Just do what they want!" She saw her mother, a faceless figure with bite marks all over her body. Karin couldn't breathe. She heard shouting, not belonging in this world. Her body was shaken. Someone called her name. She could feel were Sasuke pierced through her. Was her heart still beating? Why wasn't she falling?  
She felt something holding her half upright, shaking her, calling her name.   
Cold water splashed into her face. No, cold water slapped her face.  
Panting and sweating Karin tried to lock away her memories.   
She felt like vomiting. Actually, she was vomiting, but she felt weirdly detached from her motions.  
She felt her heartbeat, blood in her ears, someone holding her body. She felt her hair being held back. She felt the hecticness around her, shouting. She heard blades and her head just felt so heavy.


	3. Meldrid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to keep you waiting! I promise the next chapter will be out next week!
> 
> Leave a comment, if you liked it. :)

Only through luck, they knew where to look for her. Two Chunin just talked a little bit too loud; and maybe, just maybe, the chance to find her was just enough for him to decide it was worth the risk. Konoha wasn't so far away. And most were at war anyway, an infiltration wasn't that risky. At least, that's what he told himself.  
"I thought, you did not want to search for Karin." Juugo sat in a tree looking down on a little hut not far from the Konoha border.   
"We are not searching for her. We know where she is." Suigetsu pointed to the little hut, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides, if we want to survive during the war, we better get ourselves a medic."  
"She is not a medic."   
"Yeah, and I am not water, but I have its properties."   
Juugo grunted quietly and formed a little smile. "I think, I got this joke," he said, nodding proudly. Suigetsu raised his brows, but restricted himself from saying anything, not wanting to offend Juugo. Right now, he needed him on his side. And he needed him as friendly and calm as possible.   
Suddenly the light shining through the hut window flickered. Without a thought Suigetsu started running. If the light flickered, something must have happened, he worried.  
He kicked down the door, Juugo right behind him. The first thing they saw, was a small room, filled with a table and two chairs. The next things were the jail bars. Behind them laid Karin, shacking and pale. A guard stood above her, just looking at her in utter panic.   
"What...Who...Why?" He stuttered, trying to get the situation under control, while simultaneously protect the girl in front of him.   
While Suigetsu ran to Karin, shoving the guard away, who was mentally merely there, Juugo secured the door.   
The white-haired lifted the woman's head and shook her.  
"Karin!"   
Cautious Juugo approached the guard, who didn't know what was happening anymore and shoved him gently away from the pair.   
"You shouldn't call anybody right know. Just stand here, will you?" he said, turning to Suigetsu, who leaned Karin's body to his, calling her name in Terror.   
Without a warning or change in his tone, he slapped her across the face.   
Coming to her senses she looked around the room and vomited, right as an elderly lady opened the door, looking at some papers.  
Suigetsu grabbed her red hair and held it back, as her shacking body slumped down.   
_______________________________________________________________________  
"She should awake soon. Then she should get something to eat, something rather easy to digest." The medic, an elderly brown-haired woman, stood up from the chair she was sitting in.   
After rushing Karin into the hospital, Juugo and Suigetsu were allowed to stay in Konoha under the condition to be prisoners.  
But this was rather formal. Nobody could hold them anyway. Anyone who was able to fight was at the forefront. Except them. They were at Karin's side.   
The medic grabbed some papers. "You don't look like you belong to any nation. From the information I have, you belong to Orochimaru."   
"We did not." Suigetsu tapped his foot impatiently. "We rather were his."   
"His what?" The woman looked up and looked directly at Suigetsu.   
"Just his."   
Juugo put his hand on Suigetsu's leg and pushed it down so he would stop moving it.   
"You're making me aggressive with this," he said.   
The white-haired one pushed his hand off his leg.   
"If you want to get rid of your aggression, I suggest you go fight in the war. Probably get killed by Sasuke's old 'friends' anyway. Or you kill them and we'll have to sacrifice Karin to escape."  
Juugo considered it for a moment. The medic shook her head.   
"Are you here just to get her?" she pointed to Karin, who was sleeping almost peacefully in the hospital bed, "And what are you going to do then? You look like you're a little lost in this world."   
Suigetsu wanted to say something clever in response, but knew she had them completely figured out.   
Team Taka or Hebi or whatever Sasuke had called them no longer existed. He could no longer go to his homeland; he was a renegade ninja.   
Juugo had never really had a home. Nowhere where he was welcome and not feared. And Karin...Karin probably wanted to go back to Sasuke.   
On the one hand, Suigetsu didn't care. She could do whatever she wanted. On the other hand, they would not survive long as two fighters on their own. They could not build on anything.   
If there was a 'they'. Suigetsu could imagine Juugo going back to Sasuke as well.   
He bit his thumb in thought.   
"I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to...," he looked over at Juugo, who seemed to be uncomfortable with the conversation," what we're going to...do after this. "   
The woman nodded again. "If you behave yourselves and show that you mean business, I think you can stay here. In Konoha, I mean. While I'm optimistic that we have a lot of capable ninjas, I'm not naive enough to think that they'll all make it back alive."   
"And what happens if we can't stay?" Juugo looked up from Karin. A stifling atmosphere crept into the room.   
"I hardly think that will happen. From what I've gathered, you're not enemies of Konoha, and a person's past shouldn't decide their future." She gathered her things and put them into a bag that hung over the back of the chair she had been sitting in before.   
After she did, she looked back at the two boys. "Are you going to stay here?"  
Unsure, the two looked at each other.  
Sighing, the woman scratched her head. "I think there are enough other people here to take care of your friend. If you want, you can spend the night at my apartment. My son moved out a few years ago, so I'd have a spare room available."   
"She's not our friend." Suigetsu suddenly stood before he realized it. Juugo also stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.   
"I think in this situation, that's not what you should be focusing on." Annoyed that Juugo was right, he nodded after making sure Karin was sound asleep.   
Pained that the less socially competent Juugo, of all people, had to reprimand him, but grateful for it, he bowed to the medic.   
"We would be very happy to use the extra room for the night."  
Smiling, she beckoned the boys to join her as she went on her way.   
"We haven't introduced ourselves," Juugo whispered to Suigetsu. Rolling his eyes, the latter whispered back, "So what?"  
"That's rude."  
"What do you expect? 'Hey, we're complete strangers ninjas who came to rescue a prisoner from your cell.' Oh, by the way, I'm Suigetsu and this is Juugo. Nice to meet you guys'." He threw his hands up in the air to show the other how stupid it was what he had said.  
"Nice to meet you too, Suigetsu and Juugo. I'm Meldrid." Meldrid turned to them and chuckled.   
Embarrassed, Suigetsu realized he had spoken too loudly.   
The other, on the other hand, seemed rather pleased that the issue had now been addressed and clarified.


	4. Reading Palms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suigetsu and Juugo stay a night in Meldrids flat.   
> Very boring but important chapter for Juugo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise!   
> Three days in a row, chapters AND short stories came out!   
> THIS only happens when you leave a lot of comments ;)   
> (And because I'm off at the moment, so it's not going to be a habit, unfortunately). 
> 
> I'll try to upload a chapter again on Friday or Sunday, but I can't promise anything. 
> 
> Feel free to visit my profile for more stories or to send me ideas/suggestions/commissions via my Discord account.

The building complex in front of them was simple. It was wooden with two floors, each with three flats. Unlike the rest of the houses in Konoha, it did not look like it had just been built.   
Meldrid led them to the second floor, to the last flat.   
"This is where I live," she said as she turned the key in the lock. The flat was simply furnished, at least from what they could make out.   
Directly in front of them was a living room with a table that had seen better days and a few chairs. Opposite it was a small, open kitchen.   
"Make yourselves comfortable; I bet you haven't eaten properly for a while."  
The old lady tied an apron around herself after taking off her coat and handbag.   
Suigetsu looked around the flat. It was quite small, but it was much better than sleeping out in the open. Or in a water tank. Three doors led off the living room, two to his left and one to his right.   
The white-haired one assumed that one of them must be a bathroom, the others probably the bedrooms.  
He leaned against the kitchen doorway and watched Meldrid take small portions of ingredients from various drawers. It took him a while to realise that the quantities she was taking would not be enough for three people. And it only occurred to him after a while that it was because the woman herself did not have enough to eat.   
"Why are you doing this?"   
Meldird turned around, just scrambling eggs with leeks and basil. "Because the flavour spreads better if I scramble it first than if I add it when I bake it."  
"You know that's not what I mean. Why are you taking us in here? Besides, you could at least feed on this for another day if you hadn't taken us in."   
Suigetsu crossed his arms and felt Juugo move behind him, presumably to see what it was all about.  
Shaking her head, the old lady put the bowl away. "Selfishness is a curse and only spreads hatred in the world. You're probably rather questioning why I don't keep everything to myself and take care of you, aren't you?"   
She looked at the two of them, but Suigetsu couldn't comprehend what she was thinking. It was more as if she was looking through them and as if all their secrets were being revealed to her.   
With a wave of her hand, she indicated that they should come closer. Hesitantly, Juugo stepped in first, Suigetsu kept his distance.  
She took the hand of the one standing closer and traced the lines on the palm with her fingers.   
"It probably won't help you much, but a hand can tell you a lot about a person's life. The journeys someone has made, the things they've felt. A hand can tell you what difficulties a person has been through or even show you what kind of character a person has. But you can't see all that until you reach out your own hand and invite them to tell you."   
She let go of Juugo's hand and he looked at his palms with interest, almost as if he had just seen them for the first time.  
Suigetsu didn't feel as if she had told him an excuse, even if he hadn't figured out what it was supposed to say.   
But it reassured him. He didn't know what reassured him, but it felt so familiar. It was enough of an answer for him.  
______________________________________________________  
The food had been very tasty and he had become full, even if he had held back. It hadn't been strange either, quite the opposite. He found it quite entertaining that Juugo was so interested in herbs and Meldird could tell a story about any herb she could think of.   
A story about a field of stinging nettles that she had fallen into as a child. A story about St. John's wort, which her friend had treaded from depression.   
And Juugo absorbed every story as if he were a dry flannel. Suigetsu, on the other hand, took in every drop of water he could get. He hadn't even noticed how close to the limit he had been.   
Right now, they were both lying in an improvised bed made of old mats and blankets and random old pillows, because it had turned out that the old room of Meldrid's son was completely empty.   
A few explosions had been heard in the distance and there had also been a few earthquakes, but Suigetsu was little concerned about that. It was not his war. Whether it was won or lost would make little difference in the end.   
Either he would be killed by the enemy or he would be killed here by Konoha ninjas. It made no difference.   
The only glimmer of hope he had right now was to spend another meal with Meldird.   
He still felt that the corners of his mouth were not doing what they should. They made him smile.   
It was not a smirk, not a spiteful smile, but simply a small sign of contentment.

Juugo turned restlessly back and forth. How long had it been since he had a decent bed?   
I wonder how long it had been since he had a relaxing meal? One where people talked and made jokes?   
Suuigetsu only vaguely remembered the last meal with his family.   
His father had been gone from early on, but his mother and brother had been. His mother was the most beautiful person he knew, even if he could no longer remember her face. She had been loving and nurturing and that had been her undoing.  
Shaking the thought away, Suigestu rolled over and soon fell into a dreamless sleep.   
______________________________________________________  
She felt like she was drowning. Her body was so heavy and pulled her down. She was sure that her lungs must be filled with water. The waves rocked her body.   
She heard an explosion in the distance.   
Why could she hear it in the water?   
Why didn't her mind shut down? Her head ached and something beeped. Over and over again.   
Beep.....  
Beep.....  
Beep.....  
She wanted it to stop. She just wanted to let herself fall.   
She heard her blood rushing in her ears.   
It was getting lighter. The pain was getting stronger. Why was she in pain? Why hadn't she noticed the pain?   
It was so unbearable. She wanted to go deep again. Drown. Far away from the pain.   
It was warm and dry. But she was soaking wet. It was uncomfortable and with every new thing she noticed, she felt like she was surfacing.  
The deep, silent waters she had been in gave way to a nasty warm broth.   
She wanted to surface, but she didn't want to feel the pain.   
The beeping became more intense. It had to stop.   
She heard footsteps. Bustle. Voices.   
She felt movements.   
They should all leave her alone. Was it another experiment? Was she an experiment again?   
Will she be hooked up or bitten?   
It made no difference.   
More voices. The pain eased. Why? It never eased. It only ever got stronger, why did it ease?   
Everything became blurred again. The broth grew cold. The sea became deep. And so still. It was so beautifully still. Her body fell so deep.   
Everything was finally quiet.

__________________________________  
Juugo was the first to wake up. Outside, the sun had risen and he could hear people in the streets. It was unusual.   
No one was urging him to leave. It was warm. It was peaceful. All things he rarely found in the presence of people.   
He finally got up after enjoying the silence. Nothing was exploding outside. Was the war over?   
It filled him with unease. If peace came now, what would become of him?   
He could do nothing but fight and kill. His hands were stained with the blood of many.   
His hands.   
He looked at his palms, almost to check if they were still there.   
What Meldrid had read from his palm, he wondered. If she had really read from his palms, she would have to know what kind of monster he was.   
His stomach churned and he was immediately overcome with guilt. She had been so nice to them, even though she didn't know about them. He didn't know how to show his gratitude to her.   
All he knew was violence. 

Carefully, he opened the door so as not to wake the still sleeping Suigetsu. In the living room, he saw Meldrid sitting there, drinking from a cup and looking at a pile of leaves.   
When she noticed him, she smiled at him. "Did you sleep well?"  
Juugo did not know how to answer this question. No one had ever asked him about such things.   
Nervously, he rubbed one hand with the other. "I...think so?"  
Nodding, Meldrid pointed to the chair beside him.  
He sat down next to her and didn't know what to do.   
Meldrid looked up from her papers. "When he wakes up," she pointed towards the room where Suigetsu was sleeping, "we can check on your friend. It's unlikely she'll be able to get out yet, but when she wakes up, it would certainly be nice to see familiar faces."   
Juugo nodded.   
They sat in silence until Juugo shyly put his hand in front of her face.   
Irritated, she looked at him.   
"What does it say?"   
Meldrid raised an eyebrow.  
"What did you read there?"  
You could see the moment she understood what he meant clearly in her eyes. And when she understood, she fell into laughter.  
"It's not that you can really 'read' from it, you can only draw conclusions."  
"What?" He continued to hold out his hand to her. Amused, she took his hand and pretended to concentrate hard.   
"Hmmm" He looked at her expectantly.  
"You are a curious and inquisitive person. You probably had little social contact before, but you are a very affectionate person." When the old lady smiled at him, he gulped.   
Maybe she was right about most of it, but he was and remained a monster.


	5. Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you cherryberry12 for beta reading. :) 
> 
> Please enjoy and write a comment, if you liked it.

Juugo and Suigetsu were told to wait outside the door. Apparently, there were complications with Karin's wound last night. Juugo sat down in the chair next to the door and watched Suigetsu pace back and forth. 

Finally, the door opened, and Meldrid came out with a gentle smile. 

"She seems better, but she is still very tired. I will allow you a short visit, but afterwards, you will both have to be questioned."

Both nodded and were let straight in. Karin was sitting upright in bed, wearing a white hospital gown and looking out of the window. 

"She's had a lot of painkillers, so I don't know how good the interview will be," Meldird warned them, but the white-haired man shook his head. Talks with Karin were not good anyway, so what could go wrong?

Karin turned her head towards the newcomers and put on a bright smile. One that was reserved only for Sasuke.

"Hello, are you here to interrogate me?" She brushed her hair back from her face, cheerful and happy. 

Neither of them was prepared for that. Just let it be a bad joke, Suigetsu thought to himself. Juugo walked up to the redhead and put his hand on her forehead. She didn't seem to have a fever, but it still felt like a fever dream to them.

"Did the pills do that to her?" In disbelief, Suigetsu turned to Meldrid, but she was as astonished as the other two. "No, actually the pills should just ease the pain, and as a side effect maybe there might be an anaesthetic effect, but it shouldn't be that strong." 

Karin put her head to one side. "Is there something wrong? Aren't they medics?" Juugo looked at the other two and sat down at the edge of Karin's bed.

"You know us, Karin." 

But the latter just shook her head. "Should I?" 

Suigetsu felt nauseous. This was even worse than he could have possibly imagined. How was this even possible? 

"You should be upset with us right now! You're supposed to yell at us! What is wrong with you?" Karin looked at him as if he had gone mad. 

"Why should I?"

Suigetsu's head was spinning. This was a wicked joke. They had been together all this time. She couldn't have been so distracted by Sasuke that she had forgotten about the two of them, could she? That was absurd. She should at least be able to recognise him. They had played so many tricks on each other and argued so often, she couldn't just not recognise him.

Meldrid put a hand on his shoulder as if she had read his thoughts. 

"Maybe you should sit down too. You're paler than usual."   
_______________________

That's where it all started. The complications, the pain, the pills, the trauma. “It was too much for her body,” the doctor said.

“Maybe she can still get her memories back,” He said. 

“Maybe in a few days, maybe in a few years.”

As if it was none of his business. But it was Suigetsu's business. And Juugo's. The latter didn't really seem to show any reaction to it from the outside, but if you knew him well enough, you could tell he wasn't his usual quiet self. And the worst thing was: the war was over. And they had no idea what would happen to them. Karin could at least start a new life now, but them? 

They couldn't.

Soon the first survivors would come back from the battle, among them those who were supposed to get information out of them. And those who would judge them. 

A cold shiver ran down Suigetsu's spine. Shit. Enormous, big shit. They should have just moved on without Karin. Then maybe they could build a new life. If only he had known that. 

Would he really have acted differently? Why had he gone to get that stupid, useless redhead in the first place? After all, he hadn't wanted to. 

Suigetsu's face landed in his hands. Fuck. Now the two of them were sitting in one of the interrogation rooms with an orange they had each been given by a guard somewhat familiar to them. Suigetsu had even been given a second one because 'he had so little colour in his face ' and probably 'didn't get enough vitamins.' 

There was definitely something wrong with the guard. And where the hell did he get all those oranges? 

Time was relative in this cell. The two of them sat there for what felt like an eternity, and every now and then a genin brought Suigetsu a glass of water.

Juugo had already eaten his orange, and one of Suigetsu's too. 

It was the ultimate boredom. So boring that Suigetsu had enough time to think about what had happened at the hospital that day. That great doctor, Tsunade or something, should be able to restore Karin's memory, shouldn't she? 

But should she? Suigetsu recalled Karin's smiling face. It was so different from what he was used to. She was friendly and almost full of life. And her smile was above all else sincere. Maybe it would be better if she started over completely? Just forget everything. Forget about working for Orochimaru, forget about almost being killed by Sasuke, forget about all their quarrels...

Maybe she and he could start over completely, without all that... But that wouldn't be any fun either, would it? 

Suigetsu sighed and tilted on the chair. Sitting around here wouldn't change anything either.

With such force, as if a storm were raging outside, the door to their interrogation room suddenly swung open and a stern-looking man with two scars across his face entered. He eyed the two and finally sat down opposite them.

"My name is Ibiki Morino, but you will only call me 'sir,' understand?"

Juugo nodded and Suigetsu rolled his eyes. "Sure thing."

Angrily, the man in front of them slapped the table and with one movement pulled Suigetsu onto it. Intending to intimidate the white-haired man in front of him, Ibiki put on his most devilish expression. "Oh, do we have our first candidate for a torture demonstration?"

But Suigetsu just shrugged his shoulders, unimpressed. "Meh. I mean, sure, if you've got nothing better to do..."

Ibiki had to blink. 

"No, Suigetsu, you have to act like you're scared already, otherwise it's very rude," the third person in the room interjected timidly. 

Two pairs of disbelieving eyes looked at the third, who only mumbled an apology quietly.  
When he had composed himself, still perplexed by Juugo's interjection, Suigetsu freed himself from Ibiki's grasp and sat back on the chair. 

"I think that settles it, too," he said. 

The rest of the interrogation was otherwise uneventful.

In the meantime, a poor shinobi had to get into Juugo and Suigetsu's heads to check whether the information they gave was correct. Unfortunately, he didn't last very long after seeing Juugo's memories of his recent outbursts. And the related massacres. 

The second one they brought in didn't last very much longer either. After about ten minutes, he passed out from Suigetsu's own memories of torture and experimentation.

Ibiki struggled with himself. On the one hand, the two seemed to pose no real threat to Konoha. On the other hand, two bloodthirsty psychopaths were sitting in front of him, who probably had a body count in the triple-digit range and who were not afraid of torture or pain or even death.

But he was no different. 

Besides, his mother had confidence in them. God, she had even let them sleep in his old room.   
Their statements had been identical to the redhead's and they had not tried to lie to them.

He would give his verdict to the Hokage.

___________________________________  
The days passed, and the real casualties of war were revealed. Over 16000 shinobi died honourably in the war, but so much time passed to recover all the bodies. Families waited for their loved ones, always hoping they would still come. And some did come, wounded but alive. 

And others came too but in pieces.

It was a tragedy. One that Suigetsu watched every day from the window. Juugo cared less about it. He had deepened his love of nature by beginning to study Meldrid's books. Perhaps he had started because he could not handle it emotionally. They were not allowed to leave the flat, because there was no time for the Hokage to take care of them. 

Fortunately, Karin had been released, if only to make more room in the hospital. 

Suigetsu looked over at her. She sat at the table with Juugo and taught him to write the names of the herbs, as he did not have any real education. She beamed when the brown-haired man was able to write his favourite herbs without help. And she smiled at him. It was a warm, inviting smile and Suigetsu almost didn't notice how long they stared at each other. "Won't you join us, Sui?" 

'Sui.' That was her new nickname for him. Not idiot, asshole, water pile, shark boy, 'Sui.'   
It was more than strange, but somehow he liked the extra attention. He sat down right in the chair next to her and casually put an arm over her back.

"What are you doing this for?" Suigetsu looked curiously at the paper, which was covered in illegible hieroglyphs. 

"I want to read the book," said Juugo intently. 

"It is important that he can read and write. Everyone can, and if someone can't, we'll teach him." She leaned into his arm, a gesture that he could not even have imagined earlier. Had her eyes always been this bright?

"Juugo," the one addressed looked up, "can you actually write only your herbs or also your name?" Suigetsu was sure he couldn't.

"My name is not important."

"Of course your name is important!" Karin puffed out her cheeks. With a fluid movement, she took the pen from his hand and turned the paper towards her.

"Here, this is my name. And this is yours. And this is Suigetsu’s." She wrote all their names on the piece of paper and drew three stick figures holding hands underneath. Satisfied, she looked up at the last one. 

"That's us." She stroked his cheek with her thumb. 

To Suigetsu, it was perfect the way it was. Time could have stopped. Just the three of them.

Juugo looked away. They used to be four. And that hurt.


End file.
